Southeastern urges passengers not to travel

Southeastern has warned passengers not to travel on any of its services today (Friday) due to severe disruption from the winter weather.

The rail operator issued the 'do not travel' warning this afternoon asking rail passengers to stay away from all its routes.

There is currently a revised service running on the Hastings line with a half-hourly service running between London Charing Cross and Tunbridge Wells and an hourly 'shuttle' service between Tonbridge and Hastings. Some stations on the line have been closed as well.

There is also major disruption on the High Speed service via Ashford due to icy rails.

A Southeastern spokesman said: “We are currently experiencing severe difficulties with the train service across our entire network as a result of freezing rain and ice forming on conductor rails, which our trains use to pick up power.

“We are currently advising passengers not to travel. This applies to all Southeastern routes – Metro, Mainline and High Speed.

“We are working to bring services back into operation as soon as possible. We will provide further updates as soon as possible.”